Description of the Prior Art
Hand-operated bending apparatus using a sweep arm is well known. There are many patents disclosing the use of a sweep arm cooperating with either a fixed or rotating shoe to urge the metal to be bent against a forming die. Most of the existing apparatus requires the clamping of the metal in order to prevent movement of the metal bar during the bending operation. Scoring or marking the metal is another problem that has occurred in bending metal when using existing apparatus. It has been found that prior art patents require a considerable amount of force to bend tubing having a medium to thick gauge wall when heat has not been applied to the metal.
The present invention provides a relatively simple, light-weight and inexpensive bending tool which effectively and accurately bends metal while requiring less force on the part of the operator.